PORTRAITS L I V I N G W I T H SARAH OFFLEY HEARTFELT STORY HEARTFELT STORY THE FINISHED WORK WHERE PORTRAITS LIVE “I’m glad I didn't wait” “I’m glad I didn't wait” Wall art, folio, archiveFOR THE DOGS I'VE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO PHOTOGRAPH, AND THE ONES I HAVEN'T MET YET.FOR THE DOGS I'VE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO PHOTOGRAPH, AND THE ONES I HAVEN'T MET YET. A room-by- room guide

LIVING WITH PORTRAITSSARAH OFFLEY A portrait isn't really finished when the shutter closes. It's finished when it's in your home, on a wall, where it lives every day. The light, the room, the way you walk past it on the stairs, all become part of the work. I hope this is useful, and I'd love to hear from you when you've read it. Sarah INTRO

Style & Tone Make a Day of It TABLE OF CONTENTS A mothers story Where Portraits Live The Finishing Touch 05 06 07 08 10 Around the studio Made to last A considered conversation A room-by-room guide Looking back, years after the portrait 03Living With Portraits

TREASUREDTREASURED REAL CHARACTER, FINISHED PROPERLY DESIGNED TO LAST A GENERATION.

05Living With Portriats “I’m glad I have it, I’m glad I didn’t wait.” I recently had an email from a client of mine who came for a session a few years ago and I thought it would be lovely to share with you here... She came home as a puppy and rearranged everything without asking. The good chair became hers. The morning walk non-negotiable. The quiet hours in the evening, the ones where she puts her head on my knee and sighs like the whole day has been an effort became the part of the day I look forward to most. I touch the frame every morning. It’s at the bottom of the stairs, where the light comes in from the side window in the afternoons and catches it just right. In the photograph she is exactly herself. Alert and completely serious about it. The way she always is. She’s older now. She moves a little more slowly on the morning walk, takes the stairs more carefully than she used to. But the photograph is still there, still the same and every morning I walk past it, and I’m glad I have it. I’m glad I didn’t wait. A HEART FELT STORY

06 A hallway portrait is the quietest decision in the house. You walk past it a dozen times a day without consciously looking, and yet it's the first thing every visitor sees as they step through the door. The wall is usually narrow and uncluttered, which is exactly why a single strong piece carries it so well. One image, properly hung, can change the whole feeling of an entrance. The living room asks something different. This is where a portrait is looked at properly, sat opposite for an hour at a time, in low evening lamplight or bright Sunday morning sun. The scale needs to be more generous here, the piece large enough to anchor a sofa wall rather than apologise for being there. WHERE PORTRAITS LIVE - The Living Room The Hallway The wall most people walk past without thinking is usually the first wall a portrait should hang on. Sits beautifully at eye height, framed by lamps and the small everyday objects that already live there. By Sarah Offley

LIGHT DARK A portrait should look like you, in colour, in mood, in the rooms you actually live in. Some families lean light, soft and airy. Others lean darker, with more depth and quiet weight. Neither is more correct, only more you. We talk it all through at your pre-session consultation, so by the time the camera comes out, nothing has been left to chance.

THE FINISHING TOUCH The frame is part of the photograph. MADE TO LAST A photograph and its frame are really one piece, designed together or not at all. The wrong frame quietly diminishes a beautiful image. The right one makes it feel inevitable, as if it could never have been finished any other way. Every portrait that leaves the studio leaves already framed. Archival mount, solid wood moulding chosen for that particular image, fine art paper made to hold its colour for a hundred years. A considered object, finished properly. 08

"Dogs don’t need to be perfectly behaved" @sarahoffley In the days before your session you’ll be invited to an online video call so we can get together and have a chat about what you’d love me to photograph, style of the portraits and where your portraits will live in your home. The session itself matches the pace of your dog. Whether they’re high energy or shy, I’ll take all personality types into consideration. Sessions run for around an hour, sometimes a little longer if we’re on a roll. The studio is a calm and dog friendly space. Dogs don’t need to be perfectly behaved. The in between moments are often the ones you’ll love the most. A week after your session, you’ll come back to the studio for your private viewing I’ll guide you on the options for what you’d like to display. Interest-free payment plans are available. Just mention it at your viewing and we’ll arrange it from there. EXPERIENCE What to expect 07

A portrait of a mother and her daughter, made in the painterly tradition. Considered, richly toned, built to hang for generations. The kind of piece a granddaughter will one day inherit, and hang in a home of her own. A portrait of a mother and her daughter, made in the painterly tradition. Considered, richly toned, built to hang for generations. The kind of piece a granddaughter will one day inherit, and hang in a home of her own. An heirloom, in the making.

MAKE A DAY OF IT The studio sits in the quiet corner of the estate, the boyhood home of Roger Lancelyn Green. He retold the Arthurian legends and Greek myths for generations of children, here in this house. The gardens open on selected days each summer. Ancient woodland on the Mersey, five minutes from the studio. Originally laid out as a Victorian pleasure garden in 1846, a hundred years before my grandad began our family business in the RAF. A row of old fishermen's houses along the Dee Estuary, fifteen minutes from the studio. Birds gather in their thousands on a high tide. Nicholls Ice Cream Parlour has been here since 1937. Order a flake. Eastham Country Park Parkgate Poulton Hall

Unit 2b, The Old Shippon, Poulton Hall, Bebington, Wirral, CH63 9AN www.sarahoffley.co.uk 07700 100 459SARAH OFFLEYSARAH OFFLEYB O U T I Q U E S T U D I O P H O T O G R A P H E R